The Pittsburgh Pirates made seven trades this past off-season that involved players going the other way. Today, we take a look at the early results from these players traded away. Starting with the Major League players and working our way down the prospect list. I’ve also added some minor league names of note that left via free agency.
Ike Davis is hitting .340/.404/.480 in 15 games for the A’s, with one homer.
Travis Snider is hitting .304/.396/.457 in 14 games for the Orioles, with one homer.
Justin Wilson has thrown 5.1 innings over eight appearances for the Yankees. He’s given up three runs on two hits, five walks and he has six strikeouts.
Buddy Borden is pitching in long relief in High-A for the Rays. He has thrown ten innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, one walk and he has 11 strikeouts.
Joely Rodriguez is in AAA for the Phillies and he is scheduled to make his fourth start tonight. Rodriguez has thrown 14.2 innings and he is having some issues with control. He has a 4.30 ERA, with 15 hits and 11 walks allowed. Rodriguez has five strikeouts.
Shane Carle is in AA for the Colorado Rockies. He has thrown 19.1 innings over three starts and has a 3.26 ERA. Carle has given up 22 hits, but hasn’t allowed a walk yet. He has 12 strikeouts.
Bryton Trepagnier is in AA for the Braves and he’s made four relief appearances. In 5.2 innings, he has given up two runs on four hits and four walks, with three strikeouts.
Free Agents
Jarek Cunningham is in High-A for the Dodgers, where he is hitting .308/.357/.500 in 12 games
Andrew Maggi is in AA for the Angels, where he is batting .308/.379/.308 in ten games.
Andy Oliver signed with the Rays after he didn’t make the Phillies as a Rule 5 pick. He is in AAA, where he has made three appearances. He has given up one run on two hits, with two walks and three strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Chase d’Arnaud is 5-for-21 in five games for the Phillies at AAA.
Carlos Paulino is a backup catcher in AA for the Twins. He is 2-for-10 in three games.
Pirates Game Graph
Source: FanGraphs
Today’s Schedule
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates defeated the Cubs by a 5-4 score on Thursday afternoon. That got them to .500 on the season. The Pirates now go to Arizona, where they will play three games against the Diamondbacks, before traveling to Chicago for three against the Cubs. Gerrit Cole will make his fourth start of the season tonight. He has allowed one earned run over six innings in each of his last two starts.
In the minors, Cody Dickson gets the start for Bradenton, looking to build off two straight solid outings. He gave up three runs over three innings in his first game, then allowed two runs in 11 innings combined in his last two starts. Chad Kuhl looks to continue Altoona’s streak of one earned run or less in all 12 games this season. Wilfredo Boscan has gone six innings in each of his two starts. He is holding batters to a .182 average and has an 0.92 WHIP. You can view last night’s prospect watch here.
MLB: Pittsburgh (8-8) vs Diamondbacks (8-7) 9:40 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (2.65 ERA, 5:20 BB/SO, 17.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (7-7) @ Toledo (7-6) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Wilfredo Boscan (1.50 ERA, 3:10 BB/SO, 12.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (7-5) @ Erie (6-7) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Chad Kuhl (0.90 ERA, 5:9 BB/SO, 10.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (7-8) @ Jupiter (6-9) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cody Dickson (3.21 ERA, 4:7 BB/SO, 14.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (9-5) vs Lexington (5-10) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (2.70 ERA, 1:5 BB/SO, 10.0 IP)
Highlights
Elias Diaz homered and doubled on Wednesday. They were the first(and only) extra-base hits for Diaz this year. He is hitting .225/.279/.325 in 12 games this season. Here is the homer.
Recent Transactions
4/22: Francisco Diaz assigned to WV Black Bears roster. Kawika Emsley-Pai added to WV Power roster.
4/21: John Sever assigned to WV Black Bears roster. Jose Regalado added to West Virginia Power roster.
4/20: Justin Sellers assigned to Bradenton on rehab.
4/19: Wilkin Castillo assigned to West Virginia Black Bears
4/19: Pat Ludwig retires.
4/18: Jaff Decker activated from disabled list and optioned to Indianapolis. Adam Miller assigned to WV Black Bears.
4/18: Junior Sosa sent to Bradenton. Barrett Barnes assigned to Extended Spring Training.
4/17: Brad Lincoln assigned to Indianapolis. Andy Vasquez assigned to Altoona.
4/17: Chris Stewart activated from disabled list. Tony Sanchez optioned to Indianapolis.
4/16: Jordan Luplow added to West Virginia Power. Jose Regalado transferred to West Virginia Black Bears.
4/16: Kelson Brown transferred to West Virginia Black Bears.
4/14: Jose Regalado added to West Virginia Power. Erik Forgione assigned to West Virginia Black Bears
4/14: Collin Balester assigned to Altoona.
4/13: Pirates release Jonathan Sandfort.
4/13: Francisco Liriano reinstated from paternity list. Casey Sadler optioned to Indianapolis.
4/12: Chris Stewart assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/12: Justin Topa placed on Bradenton disabled list. Matt Benedict assigned to Bradenton from Altoona
4/11: Pedro Florimon clears waivers. Assigned to Indianapolis.
4/11: Stolmy Pimentel claimed off waiver by the Texas Rangers.
This Date in Pirates History
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, and all four lasted just one season with the team. The four players were spread out pretty evenly throughout Pirates history. First baseman Jim Field played for the team in 1885. Pete Falsey played for the Pirates in 1914, right out of Yale. Dixie Howell caught for the Pirates in 1947 and Bob Beall was a September call-up for the 1980 Pirates.
The 1889 Alleghenys opened their season on April 24th with an 8-5 win over the Chicago White Stockings in front of 4,000 fans. Hall of Fame pitcher Pud Galvin picked up the win. The Alleghenys began the year with eight games at home, then went on a crazy road trip. From May 3rd until June 17th, Pittsburgh played one home game and 32 road games. The strange part is that by the end of the year, the Alleghenys played four more home games that season(70-to-66).
+ postsJohn started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Thanks for the update. Anyone think Snyder will stay +.300 for the season?
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How about other folks. And this is going back…
James McDonald?
Jeff Karstens?
That’s embarrassing now that i think about it. I loved J Mac. Always wondered why Hague never got his turn and was a big Karstens guy. Until this post i felt like i had good judgement.
Good article, John.
There was obviously something behind the scenes for them to cut ties with Maggi. Not that he was a top prospect, but he was far from the bottom of the totem pole. Couple that with the fact they released him simultaneously with his brother, and it seems strange.
Eamon: Good point; Maggi had some solid numbers at AA last year with the bat and with the glove at 3 different positions. Downside was that he is already in his age 26 season going into AAA; Hanson is only in his age 22 season at AAA, and Adam Frazier, a LH hitting MI had decent numbers at Hi A in 2014, and is only in his age 23 season in 2015. I think the sleeper here is Max Moroff, a switchhitter in his age 22 season, who has been aggressively promoted since being drafted out of HS in 2012.
There is s
Thanks — good article. It’s always interesting to see how former Pirates are faring, but I rarely take the time to look at a comprehensive list. Maybe this is something that can be done again at the All-Star Break and after the season, and include the other guys you were considering (like Dilson Herrera, who by the way is hitting .367 in AAA).
Watching Herrera play the way he has stings because he appears to be a better prospect than Hanson and Walker is getting older and gone after next year. That being said RF was so awful for the Pirates in 2013 and Byrd didn’t disappoint when he came here.
How about martins stats. He should be included
I could have included about 20 other players, but I went with the traded players and minor league players that were around for awhile. Martin is hitting .159/.333/.341 so he is off to a very slow start, but he is throwing out 44% of runners
Great idea for an article by the way. Getting a little tired of the “we gave up on Grilli too early arguments” even though he doesn’t apply to the offseason trades.
It’s early I know, but I do feel better about the Borden deal given the flexibility of Rodriquez. Definitely disliked it at first. The only other player they might miss from the ones above is Snider but let’s be honest – how many AB’s would he really get? They sold high.
I had no problem with trading Snider…I just felt like we should have gotten more than what we got. Tarpley has promise, but is injured and Brault does not look like much so far.
By the same token, Snider had a very small amount of success to go off of, so while “momentum” surely is a thing, the other side is certainly mentioning how its not a sure thing the kid had flipped a switch for good. 2 low level LHP might be a tad low, but i doubt anyone gives up a B prospect plus anything else for that small sample success.
It’s definitely tough to look at what a guy does in one league as a starter and assume that’s what he would have done as a bench player in the other league, but most people only see the final stats. He would probably have the same amount of AB’s as Lambo, since that is the player that took his role, but that’s obviously just guessing based on what we thought would happen. Snider has 53 plate appearances, Lambo has 17.
I had no problem with the trade. Polanco was clearly going to get the starting job and Snider was his insurance. Good insurance, but a 4th OF nonetheless.